Final Day of the ECIS Conference
Drive from Nice to Piemonte
Villa Sampaguita
Truffle Festival in Vezza
Breakfast with Bottled Yogurt
I got up at about seven and showered and went down to breakfast.
The bear on the stairs
They had many Danon yogurt in glass bottles and this time they had pesche. I had one and even took one up to Christine.
Final Day of the Convention–The Last Session
I finished dressing and took off for th Acropolis at about ten to nine or so. I went up to see Russell to tell him Zoe was coming and neither one of them was in the booth. I went to go into Gallieni 5 where I thought I was teaching and it turned out I wasn't in that room. I was actually in Galliene 2.
Good thing I checked. I went to the Walsworth and had a nice conversation with Jim Petrucci. Turns out he is married to a Piemonte woman and he loves Piemonte wine. He gave me a couple of tips and I took some notes. So I went back down and waited for Zoe to arrive. As it turned out she didn't show up until almost 9:40. I nearly had to give up on her. I was able to get her one of the cool woven ECIS bags. When we got to the room at 9:50 or so, not a soul was in there. Would this be the first time I had to do a session for no one? Kat, if she already gave her session, was long gone. I went by the Taylor booth to find out from Kat what was up and she said she only had two and one was the guy from Rome.
Prettiest view from any place I have ever taught.
I got back and Shannon Miller from London was there and then the black woman from Nice and then three from Russia. Finally the guy from Rome came and part way through the man from Ghana came in. All told I had eight I think. Better than I would have dreamed of for a
Sunday at 10 a.m. The session "The Student-created Yearbook" went as well as I could have expected and with my prize breaks, I filled the time perfectly. Praise the Lord. It's amazing what it feels like to complete something you have been planning for nearly six months. My instincts were correct and it was a valuable session to have put together. Several even took it on their flash drives. Also during the session the woman from Istambul dropped in and took the book I promised her. Glad she cared enough to come back to get it. Now we have a yearbook heading to Turkey.
As the session ended, the man from Ghana (Timothy) came up and we had a great conversation , he showed me their book, probably the first one I have ever seen from Africa. We took pictures together. He and his friend who is a math teacher at his school. It was very nice. All in all I felt everything regarding the conference went very well. I definitely felt appreciated by all who came to my critiques and those who attended my sessions. And attendance wasn't half bad. I am half tempted to sign up to come again next year, but I really do think I need to sit out a year or two. As much as I would love to go to Hamburg next year. I would love to go to another ot those amazing German Christmas fairs.
After we were done we headed over to the Walsworth and Russell and Jim were both there. We talked with them and took a few pictures and then were off.
Michelle Daughtry never returned to the book so I left her nuts and chocolate with Caroline Davis. It was sad not to be able to say goodbye.
Zoe and I headed back to the hotel and it took twenty minutes or so for Christine and Sue to arrive with the car.
When they finally arrived it turns out we had had a little miscommunication and they had neither finished packing or checked out. They did get an upgrade so we had a cool Renault Espace.
On the Road to Italy
I went up and finished packing and we brought all the stuff down. Sue and I checked out and I stored two bags at the hotel.
At exactly 11:50 we were off on he next part of the adventure. We had to drive down Gallieni Blvd. which runs parallel to the Acropolis the swing back around heading in the other direction. After turning left we had to go down into one of those tunnels that are actually kind of scary. We were able to follow the Google directions pretty easily and were were on our way out of France and into Italy.
The views to the south of the Mediterannean coast were quite spectacular. It was bright and sunny as we drove into Italy. We noticed tons of hot houses along the road along the coast and I just love seeing the beautiful colors of the houses of italy. As vibrant as in Tuscany.
We headed north before we got to Genoa and soon we were in Piemonte. Pretty flat with stuning views of the Alps. Eventually we headed back east toward Asti. I was using my Google directions and we got a little lost after we went passed the roundabout we were supposed to turn at. (I read about it in another set of directions I had) We went into this small village and up this incredibly narrow hill and even saw what we knew was a puntana! We got turned around and made it back to Villa Sampaguita by somewhere between 2:30 and 3. As we pulled in, Rina greeted us and soon we met tim who had just gotten up from a nap. We got checked in and headed out to a White Truffle Festival in Vezza, probably about ten miles away. WE got a little mixed up on the way there but figured it out and finally found Vezza. On the road up to the town we met two guys who were stopping people from going up. They spoke no English but we figured out that we couldn't drive up to the festival but had to got back and park the car and take a us up. We parked the car (I had to run back and get the cell phone) and we jumped on the bus and were on our way. Clearly this was a local festival and i think we were the ONLY tourist there.
After the bus dropped us off and we walked up into the town, it quickly became clear the much of the festival was closing down.
We did find a great crepe stand up by the church and each had a crepe with Nutella (which is made in Alba) for 3 euro each.
We also had seen a bike demonstration and a goat with clothes on. After our crepe, we walked back to the square and ordered pizza from a stand and watched the guy make each one fresh.
While sitting there we watch a clown who was smoking and the goat the was wearing a costume.
We also walked over to one booth and actually saw both black and white truffles. Also while we were sitting there we called Robert who had gotten through security and was waiting to leave Sacramento. We told him we loved him and were proud of him for following his dream.
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